He tried to save the fallen girls, but they came after him instead.

Karaoke bar.

Surprisingly, the karaoke rooms in the neon-lit area were not much different from the karaoke rooms in Shirakawa's original world.

Soft sofas surrounded an elegant low table in the middle, on which sat a small karaoke machine similar to an iPad. A large electronic screen hung on the wall. Shirakawa sat at the innermost part, while Yayoi sat at the outermost part, closest to the door.

In the middle are three girls, plus Sakura.

Sakura sat next to Shirakawa, her little hand occasionally and secretly playing with the back of Shirakawa's hand, a sweet smile on her face.

Shirakawa realized he might have made a mistake. His intention in saying he was Sakura's boyfriend was only to protect her from Yayoi's harassment, but now it seemed the misunderstanding was getting deeper and deeper.

Shirakawa recalled what Cecilia had told him about yandere.

I still need to clear up the misunderstanding; I can't be with Sakura.

The fact that Maki sneaks into Shirakawa's room at night to smell her scent, and that Miike breaks into her room to install a camera to monitor her, already indicates that the female protagonist of this world is somewhat abnormal.

Shirakawa can't take this risk; he has to bring things up after the karaoke session.

"Come on, Sakura-chan, let's request a song together."

"Okay, okay."

Sakura, on the other hand, seemed to be having a lot of fun with those hot girls.

Shirakawa pretended to look at his phone, but actually kept stealing glances at Yayoi to see what he was going to do.

He stood up and pressed the button to call for service at the song selection counter, and a waiter rushed over.

"What would you like to drink, everyone?" Yayoi asked.

"Me, me, me! I want to drink freshly squeezed cantaloupe juice!" The chubby hot girl C raised her hand first.

In Japan, fruit is very expensive, especially cantaloupe.

This freshly squeezed juice doesn't sound cheap.

Do you expect to be treated to an exorbitant amount just because someone else is paying?

“We want cantaloupe juice too,” the two girls, A and B, said in unison after a moment of quiet discussion.

"I'll just have a glass of apple juice."

Apple juice is relatively cheap, and Sakura didn't want Yayoi to spend too much money.

"I'll just have an apple juice." Shirakawa simply didn't want to order the same thing as those snobbish hot girls.

"Then I'll have a glass of grape juice. I prefer purple," Yayoi said with a smile.

Isn't purple the color of gay men...?

The waiter left after taking the order.

"It's been a long time since I sang, let me start with a song! Let me warm up my voice!" Yayoi took the microphone and selected a song on the song selection table.

As soon as the intro to the song finished playing, Yayoi Akiyama was about to sing when she discovered that the microphone wasn't producing any sound.

"Huh? Is it broken? I'll go find them to exchange it."

With that, Yayoi got up and left the private room, gently closing the door behind her.

He returned shortly afterward with a new microphone and sat back on the sofa.

There is no problem.

Then Yayoi started singing. He sang quite well, with a good pitch and volume, and some emotion. He even hit some high notes, which made the female fans below gasp in amazement.

After that, it was time for everyone to sing together. Although Shirakawa had adapted to the language, he still couldn't sing well. On the one hand, he didn't know how to pronounce the hiragana and katakana lyrics properly, and on the other hand, he was indeed a bit tone-deaf.

Sakura sang a song, a very cute song, about the female protagonist and the male protagonist's first love and the feeling of their hearts fluttering. The two of them were always sweet and loving after they fell in love. While singing, she kept looking at Shirakawa.

...

If it weren't for the potential appearance of a yandere character and the domineering Nikaido, Shirakawa would have been completely captivated by Sakura.

Sometimes she's unforgiving when she's right, sometimes she throws tantrums, sometimes she's arrogant, but when she likes someone, she shows a very gentle, obedient, and caring side.

Just like a kitten, when you first meet it, it might scratch or meow, but once it gets used to you, it will snuggle up in your arms and become docile.

The better Sakura treated him, the deeper Shirakawa's guilt became.

"Hello, here is your drink."

The waiter carried a tray full of juice and placed it on the low table.

Shirakawa stared intently at the juices, especially his and Sakura's apple juice. Whenever Yayoi touched those cups, he wouldn't touch a drop.

But Yayoi just lay half-reclined on the sofa, looking lazy, clapping her hands to the rhythm of the song to liven up the atmosphere.

There is no problem.

Shirakawa took his apple juice, and just as his lips touched the rim of the glass and he was about to lift the glass to drink, he caught a fleeting glimpse of Yayoi's eyes.

It was as if it glanced at itself, yet also as if it didn't.

The rhythm he was striking also became a few beats off.

No, something is wrong.

Shirakawa put down his juice glass and pondered carefully.

81. Karaoke 2

emmmmm.

It might have been an unintentional little action.

Yayoi didn't touch the cup at all, nor did her hand brush against the rim, so she couldn't have had the opportunity to put the drug in.

Mmm~

Shirakawa pondered for a moment, then glanced at Yayoi, who was watching the music video on the electronic screen with a nonchalant expression.

The hot girls sipped their cantaloupe juice and said, "Mmm, it's delicious, thank you, Akiyama-kun."

"Not at all," Yayoi said with a smile, picking up her own grape juice and drinking it in large gulps.

Is it really just a misunderstanding?

Shirakawa looked at the apple juice in his hand and began to ponder deeply.

First of all, Shirakawa could have simply ignored the apple juice and not drunk it at all.

However, Shirakawa is now thinking not only about how to protect himself, but also about finding evidence against Yayoi, wanting to send him to the Metropolitan Police Department and get rid of him completely.

Therefore, analyzing whether this apple juice was laced with drugs becomes particularly important.

Let's analyze what just happened, make inferences about Yayoi's guilt, and look for clues.

The first thing that happened was ordering drinks.

Recalling the order of the conversation, first the group of hot girls ordered cantaloupe drinks, then Shirakawa and Sakura ordered apple juice, and finally Yayoi ordered grape juice because she liked purple.

Shirakawa observed the juices on the table. The apple juice and cantaloupe juice were easily distinguishable, one being yellow and the other a deep yellow. The most striking was the grape juice, a pure purple.

It must be for some kind of distinction.

Then he suggested singing to warm up his voice and went to get the microphone.

He made an excuse that his microphone was broken and went to the front desk to replace it.

If we have to say something, there's a problem with that too. No one had used a microphone before; Yayoi was the first person to get a microphone and sing.

Shirakawa observes the microphones in the hands of the glamorous girls who are singing merrily.

There is a small switch button on it.

Hmm~ In other words, apart from Yayoi herself, no one can be sure that the microphone was broken, and it's possible that Yayoi didn't even turn on the microphone at all.

He went out under the pretext of changing the microphone. During the time he was out, he was out of Shirakawa's sight, and no one knew what he was doing in secret.

He then returned with the microphone, and a while later the drinks were served.

Could it be that he tampered with the drink when he left?

These drinks must have been made in a separate kitchen, off-limits to unauthorized personnel, and Yayoi wouldn't have been able to get in either.

However, Yayoi could tamper with the process of the waiter bringing the food from the kitchen to the private room.

They bribed the waiter beforehand, and when no one was passing by in the corridor, they secretly added the drugs...

Then quickly return to the private room, pretend nothing happened, and ask the waiter to bring the juice later.

Etc., etc!

Shirakawa suddenly discovered a crucial blind spot.

The reasoning just now overlooked one issue: why would Yayoi drug herself?

Shouldn't he have drugged Sakura?